“Lot – Choosing the Good, Missing Out on the Best”

Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021" 
Weekly Topic - “Lot – Choosing the Good, Missing Out on the Best” 
Text – Genesis18:20-19:38; 2 Peter 2:6-8; Matthew 7:1-5; Romans 7:18-25; 1 Corinthians 4:1-7; Ephesians 4:17-31; Hebrews 10:26-29

In previous weeks, we have briefly touched on the individual found in Genesis known as Lot.  He was Abraham’s nephew, the son of his deceased brother, Haran.  Last week we learned how Abraham worked to maintain familial peace between their households.  Abraham’s and Lot’s flocks and herds could no longer be supported on the same territory and it was necessary for them to split up.  Abraham gave first pick to his nephew, and Lot scooped up the best land.  The only problem with the lush Jordan Valley was that it also served as home to five cities—Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar…cities renowned for their wickedness.
 
His new location would prove hazardous as the five kings of these cities chose to rebel against King Kedorlaomer and refused to pay tribute.  They were defeated and Lot found himself as collateral damage—captured along with everything he owned by the reigning king and his alliances.  Abraham heard of Lot’s predicament and didn’t hesitate to come to his defense.  After rescuing him and destroying the vanquishing army, he refused to receive any reward from the king of Sodom.  Lot may be living amongst them, but Abraham knew their reputation and refused to form an alliance.
 
We hear nothing more of Lot until Abraham receives a visit from God and two angels at the age of 99.  Abraham encourages them to stay for a bite to eat, and after the meal God reveals the true purpose of his visit.
 
Today, I’m going to read Lot’s story…follow along in your Bibles if you wish or sit back and listen.
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LOT’S STORY – Genesis 18:20-19:38
“Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”   22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” 26 The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”  [Abraham’s first instinct is to try to save his nephew Lot.  He gains God’s promise, that for the sake of fifty righteous people, He will not destroy the city.  However, we can see from the ensuing conversation, that Abraham fears that even that few number of ‘righteous’ people will not be found, so engages God further.]
 
27 Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”  “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”  29 Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”  He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”  He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”  31 Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”  He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.” [Abraham is engaging God in the ancient practice of bartering.  He does not want to earn God’s displeasure, but at the same time is desperate to rescue Lot and his family.  He pushes for one last concession, all the while hoping it is enough…]
32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”  He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”  33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. [This is significant because it demonstrates Lot’s assimilation into Sodom.  He now sits as one of the city’s judges at the gate.] 
When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.” 3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. [Lot knew the reputation of his adopted city, so without divulging to the visitors why he was insistent, he persuaded them to come to his home.  As a leader in the city he is practicing the customary hospitality he observed in his uncle Abraham’s household, yet there is also an urgent tone behind his insistence.]
4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” 6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” 9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. [His fears have come true.  The men of the city are intent on sexually abusing his guests; but there’s too many to fight off, so he makes an offer.  He tells the gathering mob that they can have his two daughters to ‘do with as you wish.’  I doubt Lot saw this as the ideal solution, but in his mind it was the lesser of two evils.  The men of the city refuse his compromise and threaten Lot personally.  He may be a judge of the city, but in the minds of this rabble, he’s just a foreigner and they move to break the door down.]
10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.  12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”  14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.  [The angels have all the proof they need of this city’s wickedness and pull Lot back into the house and bar the door, then blind all those outside the house attempting to get in.  The angels instruct Lot to go gather everyone who belongs to his household; the whole of the city has been judged and only Lot and those closest to him will escape God’s judgement.  Lot goes out into the city and finds his sons-in-laws, but they think he’s joking.  There is some question in the original Hebrew as to whether these were the fiancés of his two daughters he had just offered up to the crowd, or if they were husbands of other daughters from Lot’s household who also lived in the city.  Either way, they refuse his warning.]
15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”  16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”  18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! 19 Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”  21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.)  23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. [Even after witnessing his own rescue from the mob by the angels, Lot hesitates to leave the city.  It may be that he didn’t want to believe their message, or leave all his stuff, or leave without having gathered more of his family to escape.  We don’t know.  The angels literally have to grab their hands and lead them out of the city.  They are told to run to the mountains and not look back.  Lot pleads to be able to find safety in Zoar, a request he is granted.  But Lot’s wife, who has been absent from the narrative up to this point, looks back on Sodom and is turned into a pillar of salt.  We don’t know why she looked back.  Did she just want to take one last look at home?  Had she decided to return?  Was she hopeful to see others following them?  Again, we don’t know.  What we do know is that one look cost her life.]
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.  29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.  [Why had God saved Lot even though ten righteous people could not be found to save the cities?  For Abraham’s sake.]
30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. 32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”  33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.  34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.  36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.” [The resulting nations from these two sons, the Moabites and Ammonites, would often cause the nation of Israel no end of grief, but it’s interesting to note that one of Jesus’ ancestors, Ruth—King David’s great-grandmother—was from Moab.  The fact that this act of incest produced a direct ancestor of the Messiah may be one of the reasons it is included in the Bible.]
 
Messianic ancestry aside, however, our natural reaction to these fragments of Lot’s story might be to express our disgust, “Gross!”  And like many of the less than genteel stories of the Bible, there is some debate about what actually took place.
Lot regretted his decision to go to Zoar because he feared the people, so ended up going and living in the mountains with his two daughters.  For whatever reason, the daughters decide to attempt to bear children by having sexual intercourse with their own father.  Scholars think that this may have been to extend the family line of their father, or to populate the earth (some suggest that they thought they were the only humans left, though they had been to Zoar so I think that unlikely) or to secure their own futures—two women alone with an aging father living in a cave would not have had many favourable prospects.
Whatever the reason, the Bible includes this less than positive account of Lot and his family.  It is one of those stories that reminds us that the Bible presents us with the truth of humanity without ever trying to gloss over the events or minimizing the faults of sinful people.  And as a reader, it is easy for us to write off Lot as another example of fallen humanity…unless you consider his full story.
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What does the New Testament tell us about Lot?
 
NEW TESTAMENT ACCOUNT OF LOT – 2 Peter 2:6-8
“God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. 7 But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. 8 Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.”
 
I don’t know about you, but ‘righteous’ is not the first word that comes to mind when I think of Lot!  But I shouldn’t be so quick to disagree with God.  Yes, Lot made some choices that certainly don’t resonate well with us, but he had grown up with Abraham.  As an adult, Lot had chosen to go with Abraham on his quest to follow God.  And while he had chosen to settle among the people of the plains, he had managed not to simply become one of them.
 
God did rescue Lot for Abraham’s sake (Genesis 19:29), but He also rescued Lot because he was counted as righteous (2 Peter 2:7).  It is important for us to remember that it is faith that deems a person right in the eyes of God and not simply how well we follow the rules of God’s laws (Genesis 15:6; Hebrews 11).
 
These snapshots of Lot’s life account for less than an accumulated 72 hours of the whole of his time on earth.  The Bible does not go into detail concerning the bulk of his years, nor what happened after the birth of his daughters’ sons.  Yes, he made some mistakes…mistakes that make us squirm and tempt us to hold him up under a spotlight for judgement.  But what would happen if any one of us was subjected to this same spotlight?
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DON’T JUDGE– Matthew 7:1-5
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.  3 And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”
 
The world is harsh on sinners and Christians often jump on board.  But as believers, saved by God’s grace, we ought to have an entirely different view of sin:
·         The world tells us that sin in our lives invalidates our witness; the Bible tells us that the pretense of not having sin is actually what marks us as hypocrites. 
·         The world tells us that certain sins are unforgiveable; the Bible tells us there is only one sin that is unforgiveable, which is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32). 
·         The world tells us that some sin is no big deal; the Bible tells us that all sin is disobedience and finds it source in our sinful human nature.
We are quick to judge other’s missteps, but can’t we all honestly say with the Apostle Paul, “And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.   21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin” (Romans 7:18-25).
This is why we can never sit in judgement of another.  The manifestations of our sinful nature may look different from another’s but it is still sin at work.  We might not be guilty of killing, armed robbery or other behaviours that could land us in jail, but we are no less guilty.  Have we allowed jealousy and envy to tempt us to destroy another’s reputation?  Have we allowed uncontrolled anger to mistreat the ones we are to love?  Do our associates know us as kind and compassionate, or greedy and dismissive?  Have we perfected the veneer of outward obedience to God, all the while refusing to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to transform our thoughts and attitudes?
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I have a question that I want you to consider.  If you died tomorrow, what would those responsible for cleaning up your state of affairs find?  It’s a serious question.  Like Lot, are there any skeletons in the closet? Flagrant missteps? Embarrassing moments you’d rather never have see the light of day?  Someday, every secret we pray stays hidden, will be exposed.
 
SECRETS REVEALED – 1 Corinthians 4:1-7
“So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries. 2 Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful. 3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. 4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.5 So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.6 Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures, you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another. 7 For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?”
 
Let me read verse five again, “So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.”
 
In other words, don’t assume you know someone so well as to be able to discern their motives—for good or bad.  And don’t put other believers on a pedestal—we are all human, with a sinful human nature, prone to disobedience.  The Christian community does itself a disservice when we point to anyone other than Christ for our example.  We cannot know the motivations of the heart…not even our own according to Paul.  But too often we get caught in the trap of elevating this or that leader, only to see them come crashing down and the credibility of God’s people along with them.
 
Many of us know of the great Christian apologist, Ravi Zacharias.  The news of his death this past year in May saddened many in the Christian community.  We held him up as an example of a great Christian leader, an apologist able to clearly explain the Christian faith to an unbelieving world, a great man of God.  However, since then his secret life—the rot under the polished veneer—has become exposed.  And in the process, many who came to faith under his ministry now question everything they ever thought they knew about the man and the God he taught about.
 
It is clear that Ravi not only allowed sin a place in his life, he cultivated it then hid it under a Christian façade.  But does that mean he wasn’t a man of faith, who possessed a belief in God?   
I am glad I am not the one who will have to answer that question for Ravi.  The world would tell us that his life, like Lots, invalidates his faith.  And while we may be tempted, I would warn all of us against sitting in the seat of judgement.  The rot exists in all of us.  To pretend otherwise is hypocrisy.  Ravi’s error was not so much being imperfect, as it was the pretense; preaching the truth of the gospel, all the while willfully cultivating a life of deception and abuse.  His secrets have in part been exposed, just as all of ours will be.
 
We would all do well to take Paul’s instructions to heart and leave the dispersal of rewards and judgement to Christ.
 
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So then what’s to be done?  If the sin nature exists in each one of us and we are not to sit in judgement, are we free to then take sin less seriously?  Shouldn’t we just live and let live?  If all we need is belief, why worry about obedience?
 
DO NOT GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT – Ephesians 4:17-31
“With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. 19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.
20 But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. 21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.  25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. 26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.  28 If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. 29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.  30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.  31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
Our disobedience can do real harm to the cause of Christ.  Our behaviour can ‘grieve’ or ‘bring sorrow’ to the Holy Spirit.  It matters how we live.  And if Ephesians 4 isn’t a strong enough caution, hear Paul’s words in the book of Hebrews which provides a stark warning for all those who play the game of ‘how close to the fire can I go without getting burned’…
 
Hebrews 10:26-29: “Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. 27 There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. 28 For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.”
 
At what point does a Christian so sin, that they have ‘trampled on the Son of God’ and ‘have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit?’  I think that involves a gamble we would all do well to avoid. Yes, we will all fail at times to live our lives in a way that is a credit to the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives.  We need to confess disobedience when it happens; however, we should not fearfully live our lives as though walking on egg shells either. 
 
Isaiah 42:3 tells us that our gentle Messiah, “…will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle.”  Jesus wants to see us blossom with new life through the Spirit.  To see us transformed.  He is not standing over us with a two x four waiting for us to step out of line so that he can wallop us.  He is not a pushover, nor a tyrant.  It is up to us to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in order that He can help us live lives that bring honour to Him…not just merely polished to a high shine, but thoroughly renovated from the inside out.
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What are our takeaways from Lot’s life and today’s lesson?
 
·         We all live with a sin nature and must daily submit ourselves to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
·         We cannot take our understanding of sin from the world.
·         There are ultimately no secrets—all that’s hidden will be revealed.
·         We are judged by the measure we use to judge another.
·         We are not to sit in judgement of another.  We are called to ‘discern’ sin, but it is not our place to condemn.
·         We cannot truly know the condition of another’s heart—for either good or bad.
·         We should point people to Christ and not leaders who are prone to sin.
·         Our behaviour matters.  We can be a credit to the Holy Spirit’s power at work in our lives or discredit Him.
·         We must avoid habitual sin and rash decisions that we will regret.  In the eyes of the world our sin invalidates the truth of the message we share…and puts our souls at risk.
·         When we sin, we must be quick to repent and confess…and get back on track with God’s help.
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 For further study:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpbWbyx1008 (the Bible Project – similar, but slightly different from last week’s link)